1. Field of the Technology
The present disclosure relates generally to mobile stations which operate in wireless communication networks, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for controlling a scanning procedure of such mobile stations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile communication devices, such as cellular telephones or mobile electronic mail (e-mail) devices, sometimes experience poor or no service under certain degraded radio frequency (RF) coverage conditions. In these conditions, a user of the mobile device may be unaware of the poor or no service and unwittingly attempt to initiate a voice call from the mobile device. In this situation, the voice call request will be denied. The user may not immediately be aware when service has been restored and, in some cases, the user may forget to reattempt the voice call even when service has been restored.
A related problem is associated with pre-established calendar appointments made via a calendar application of the mobile device. Such calendar appointments are stored in memory of the mobile device and are typically associated with calendar information which includes a date, time, and/or time period of the appointment. The calendar information of the calendar application may be automatically synchronized with a corresponding calendar application on a computer (e.g. a PC) of a local area network (LAN) via the wireless communication network. The calendar appointment may or may not be for an anticipated scheduled voice call (e.g. a conference call) utilizing the mobile device. If the calendar appointment is for such a scheduled call, wireless coverage is required for the mobile device. That is, at the date and time of the appointment, the mobile device must be located within RF coverage range of the wireless communication network to make or receive the call for the appointment. If not, the user may miss or be late for the scheduled call. Note that the user may not be aware of any RF coverage problem until the calendar application reminds the user of the appointment, at or near the date and time of the appointment.
A further problem is associated with scanning operations of a mobile device when voice calls are anticipated based on calendar appointments or call reminders. If a calendar appointment is for a scheduled call, then wireless coverage is required for the mobile device. That is, at the date and time of the appointment, the mobile device must be located within RF coverage range of the wireless communication network to make or receive the call for the appointment. If not, the user may miss or be late for the scheduled call. When the mobile device initially goes out-of-coverage, the mobile device performs scanning operations at a relatively fast scan rate in attempt to identify any available wireless networks within RF coverage range. Over time, however, when no networks are found, the scan rate is decreased to a relatively slow scan rate. This is done in order to reduce power consumption of the mobile device, as scanning operations consume a significant amount of battery power. Currently, however, scanning operations and scan rates are functionally disconnected from stored calendar appointments which may be for voice calls or otherwise require wireless service for the mobile device.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide techniques to facilitate anticipated voice calls for convenience and ease-of-use so as to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art.